Patrick Farrell a Villanova walk-on with Long Island roots

Villanova's Patrick Farrell celebrates on the bench during action against Providence during the semifinals of the Big East Tournament on Friday, March 11, 2016, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Photo Credit: TNS / Charles Fox

The Villanova senior’s parents are willing to travel pretty much anywhere to watch their son’s team in the NCAA Tournament, he said, but a short trip on the LIRR will be all they need for this year’s first round at the Barclays Center.

Edward and Ellen Farrell still live in Patrick’s hometown of Rockville Centre, and though the forward, who joined Villanova as a walk-on, only played 23 minutes this season, he expects a decent group to make the trek.

“I’ve kind of only spoken to my parents and a couple of my friends from home, but I’m sure there’s more people that I know that are coming from either my high school, because I know now they’re on Easter break, or just people from my town,” he said. “It’s really nice. It’s nice to be back close to home.”

Farrell played for Chaminade under then-coach Jim Quinn, averaging 13.2 points and 10 rebounds his senior year, and the Flyers coach “really taught me about hard work,” he said. “Besides just being a basketball coach, he was a teacher at the school . . . He really just had a way with raising kids right — really just preparing them for college whether they’re going to focus on athletics or focus on academics.”

Farrell expects to be back at the Barclays in May — he has tickets to a Justin Bieber concert — but like most Long Islanders worth their salt, he expects to get in an Islanders game eventually. Not that there isn’t a little cognitive dissonance.